Messiah J & The Expert are playing the Life Festival in County Galway, Ireland next Friday the 4th of July. We are headlining the amphitheatre stage. Tickets are still available. To purchase go here. This is our only confirmed show of the summer and we will be previewing songs from our third album which will be released on Inaudible Records later this year.

Shout outs to nialler 9 for shedding light on an exhaustive list of mp3s of emcee battles from 1979 – 1987. It’s a pretty amazing archive and what I’ve listened to so far is really interesting. Make sure you also check out this Dutch documentary made on Hip Hop music from the mid eighties too:

And speaking of battles, Mos Def has had a deadly idea. To find out more click here

Lastly, on the old school Hip Hop tip… anyone interested in the making of some classic golden era rap songs? D – Nice went around and interviewed some old school artists including Blacksheep and Dana Dane in his True Hip Hop stories series. Here’s one with YZ talking about the making of one of my stone cold favourites, Thinkin’ Of A Masterplan (which is my song of the day!):

In other news:

I went to the gym yesterday and did weights for the first time in years and my arms are about to fall off, I saw a brilliant and powerful documentary on the West Memphis 3 called Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, I’m trying to work out the tracklisting for the new MJEX album and I’m moving to Inchicore on Monday. Breathe Out…